Feds arrest 18 in part of nationwide Medicare fraud sweep

Eighteen people from the Inland Empire and the Los Angeles area were arrested Thursday in what is believed to be the largest takedown in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice's Medicare Fraud Strike Force.

According to the indictment, the Onyeabors received prescriptions for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs from Wijegunaratne in return for kickbacks and used those prescriptions to submit more than $1.5 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare.

The company allegedly submitted claims for medically unnecessary transportation services and are accused of forging documentation to support those claims.

Charles Agbu, 58, and his daughter, Brooke Agbu, 25 of Carson who own Bonfee Medical Supplies and Ibon, Inc. were arrested for submitting more than $12.3 million in fraudulent claims from bogus prescriptions to Medicare according to the indictment.

Dr. Emmanuel Ayodele, 64 of Westlake, Dr. Juan Van Putten, 65, of Ladera Heights, and patient recruiters Alejandro Maciel, 41, of Huntington Park and Candelaria Estrada, 37, also of Huntington Park were arrested in connection to providing those prescriptions to the Agbus.

"The FBI is committed to addressing criminal activity in the healthcare system that drains the Medicare Program of billions each year, a cost borne by taxpayers in the end," said acting assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office Timothy J. Delaney. "The defendants are accused in various cases of schemes targeting Medicare beneficiaries, primarily the elderly, and billing the federal government at inflated rates for services, or for services that were never provided."

Tigran Aklyan, 36 of Van Nuys, the owner of a San Gabriel durable medical equipment company, Las Tunas Medical Equipment, was arrested on accusations that he submitted more than $900,000 in fraudulent billings to Medicare, primarily for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs.

"Today's enforcement actions reveal an alarming and unacceptable trend of individuals attempting to exploit federal health care programs to steal billions in taxpayer dollars for personal gain," said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. "Such activities not only siphon precious taxpayer resources, drive up health care costs, and jeopardize the strength of the Medicare program - they also disproportionately victimize the most vulnerable members of society, including elderly, disabled and impoverished Americans."

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services to focus efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.

Anyone with information on these cases or who needs to report incidents of Medicare fraud can file a report directly from the website www.stopmedicarefraud.gov or they may call the toll-free number at 800-HHS-TIPS.